The off-field controversies which dogged Marcus Rashford’s final years at Manchester United have been replaced by wholesome fishing trips and a general sense of good will at Barcelona.
“People forget this, but 23 years of my life was with Manchester United,” Rashford sighed shortly after leaving his boyhood club on loan over the summer. “So sometimes you just need a change.”
The toxicity looming over Rashford at Old Trafford first formed long before he was frozen out by Ruben Amorim in December 2024. The 28-year-old’s lifestyle was the subject to wildly undue fury from English media for years, prompting lavish spreads in the nation’s tabloids for even the most innocent of actions.
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Despite the reputation Barcelona has as a club with a fierce spotlight, Rashford has managed to navigate his first three-and-a-half months in the Catalan capital without any of the backlash he received in England.
“The feedback in the media on Marcus has been positive,” the Spanish journalist Sergi Capdevila told The Times this month. “Zero off-field issues, nothing about his life outside of Barça.”
The same report reveals that Rashford has swiftly settled into his new surroundings from his apartment in Esplugues.
The Northern Irish nightclubs have been replaced with chess boards, padel courts and fishing trips, laying the foundations for a professional attitude which is “appreciated by his coach and teammates.”
Rashford has been nothing but glowing in his appraisal of the city he now calls home. “I’m really enjoying my time in Spain,” he revealed last month. “The weather is the best part. It’s a very big change. I’m learning every day, I’m really enjoying it.
“I hope to be here for a long time. I get along really well with Roony [Bardghji], as well as Jules [Kounde] and Frenkie [de Jong]. It’s a team where we all blend together. We’re united.”
Rashford is also thought to be friends with Lamine Yamal, whose status as Barcelona’s undisputed star has benefitted his new English teammate on and off the pitch.
Lamine Yamal (left) has racked up more assists than any Barcelona teammate this season—apart from Marcus Rashford. / Stuart Franklin/Getty Images
When the journalist Capdevila lauded the lack of personal prying done into Rashford’s private life, he provided a succinct explanation for that disinterest: “All of that is about Lamine.”
Barcelona is a club so prone to creating a media storm in a teacup that the legendary former player and manager Johan Cruyff came up with a term for the torrent of speculation: “entorno.”
Yamal has invariably found himself at the center of that storm this season. Be it extravagant birthday parties, his fitness or even his social media posts, there is nothing the 18-year-old does which escapes the scrutiny of the Spanish press.
This shift of focus has only “helped” Rashford settle in, The Times claim, with the forward’s subtle adaptation thought to be precisely how he would like it as he enjoys some rare (and relative) anonymity.
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